No Follow-up Maintenance

 

Customers of IBM Korea fell into confusion due to Lenovo’s decision to take over the x86 server business of IBM. No follow-up measures concerning product maintenance has come out yet.

According to industry sources, Lenovo Korea is planning to run the x86 server business from September this year. It decided to take over the business unit at a cost of US$2.3 billion last month, and is currently waiting for the approval from the US government while having talks with IBM Korea about employment, customer service and marketing issues.

Still, no maintenance or sales policy has been finalized yet, confusing IBM’s existing and potential customers. “It is highly likely that everything will change, from the brand name to product lineup and service systems, but IBM Korea has not given a clear message,” said a server hosting firm executive, adding, “An increasing number of customers are making inquiries and potential clients appear to be anxious as well.”

This has led to some review of existing contracts by those having no trust in the server business of Lenovo Korea. “It is said that many major telecom operators and portal sites, which conclude their purchase contracts on a yearly basis, are re-examining the contracts due to the probability of a change in supplier during the terms,” said another industry insider, continuing, “I heard that one of them called for IBM Korea to provide a product and maintenance warranty, even after the takeover, and more and more public institutions, manufacturers and financial companies seem to be unwilling to employ an IBM server.”

In recent years, IBM Korea has sold close to 20,000 units of servers a year in the local x86 server market. Its market share is approximately 20% as of now. 

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